Electronic devices (e.g., computers, laptops, tablets, copiers, digital cameras, smart phones, and the like) often employ integrated circuits (ICs, also known as “chips”). These integrated circuits are typically implemented as semiconductor dies packaged in integrated circuit packages. The semiconductor dies may include memory, logic, and/or any of various other suitable circuit types.
Many integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices utilize an arrangement of bumps, such as a ball grid array (BGA) or a flip chip ball grid array (FCBGA), for surface mounting packages to a circuit board (e.g., printed circuit board (PCB). Any of various suitable package pin structures, such as controlled collapse chip connection (C4) bumps or microbumps (as used in stacked silicon interconnect (SSI) applications), may be used to conduct electrical signals between a channel on an integrated circuit (IC) die (or other package device) and the circuit board on which the package is mounted.
As the density of active components in IC dies continues to rise, the IC dies produce an ever-increasing amount of heat during operation. This heat is typically thermally conducted from the IC dies through a thermal interface material (TIM) to a lid and then to a heat sink to facilitate heat dissipation away from the IC dies. Heat spreaders (e.g., vapor chambers) may be used to spread heat from a concentrated heat source such as an IC die to a larger heat sink.